Systems first
I usually see the big picture first: the people, the goal, the risk, the architecture, the incentives, the emotional reality, and the long-term consequences.
About Rick Collette
I connect the layers.
I build things that sit at the intersection of security, software, systems, music, martial arts, and stubborn human concern.
About Rick
Professionally, I have spent decades in infrastructure, cloud security, DevOps, enterprise architecture, automation, and product systems. I care about making technology usable, explainable, resilient, and secure enough to survive contact with real people.
Creatively, I write songs, build weird tools, chase old-computer ghosts, and make art that leans toward the strange, the Southern, the funny, the angry, and the humane.
Physically and philosophically, martial arts keeps me honest. It reminds me that discipline matters, control matters, and strength without compassion is just another kind of failure.
Official identity
Official site of Rick Collette / Richard A. Collette.
Cybersecurity and AI systems builder. Enterprise architecture and cloud security person. Musician. Martial artist. Creator of software, music, and community projects.
My brain often has the whole map before it has the sentence.
How I think and work
Details next
Then I drill down into workflows, data models, interfaces, edge cases, failure modes, and implementation details.
Overlap is the point
I am not just a coder, designer, architect, or security person. I work in the overlap between strategy, product, security, engineering, design, communication, and execution.
How I communicate best
I am not always great at explaining what is in my head verbally in real time. That does not mean the thinking is not there. It usually means there is too much of it trying to exit through a very small door.
I communicate best with artifacts: whiteboards, diagrams, architecture maps, written specs, graphs, prototypes, examples, models, and working systems.
Give me a marker, a document, a sketchpad, or a messy problem with enough room to map it out, and I can usually make the invisible thing visible.
Working with me
The fastest way to understand how I work is this: I think in systems, then I build my way down into the details.
I am strongest when I can map the problem, expose the hidden assumptions, draw the architecture, identify the risks, and turn the idea into something concrete.
Bring the messy version. Let me map it. Expect diagrams, questions, connected layers, and a final answer that is more complete than the original ask.
Resume
Rick Collette
Cybersecurity Engineer | Enterprise Architect | AI Product Builder
I build secure systems, practical architecture, and AI-enabled products for real-world business and operational problems.
I have 25+ years of experience across cybersecurity, cloud architecture, enterprise architecture, platform engineering, DevSecOps, software delivery, research computing, and AI-enabled product development. I have worked across early internet ad networks, Disney, Apple, Deloitte, Evident.io, Palo Alto Networks, Elisity, Appremon, New York Genome Center, Myota, and Lucid Motors.
My strength is turning messy goals into working systems: architecture, roadmaps, controls, workflows, prototypes, products, and delivery plans.
Career Highlights
- Led teams ranging from 2 to 45 people.
- Managed budgets from thousands of dollars to multimillion-dollar scopes.
- Built and operated systems from 2-node deployments to 5,000-node environments.
- Worked with data footprints ranging from gigabytes to petabytes.
- Shipped more than a dozen products and systems for internal and external customers.
- Reduced idea-to-MVP delivery time by as much as 80%.
- Helped guide Evident.io technical operations through growth and acquisition by Palo Alto Networks.
Experience
Lucid Motors
Lead Cybersecurity Engineer
Lead cybersecurity engineering work focused on secure, scalable systems aligned with business, platform, and operational needs. Partner across engineering, infrastructure, product, and business teams to reduce risk, strengthen platform security, and support modernization efforts.
Appremon
Chief Executive Officer
Founded and led a security-focused product company serving enterprise security, developer workflow, automation, and AI-enabled delivery needs. Built open-source and commercial solutions around security, automation, developer experience, cloud posture, vulnerability analysis, and AI-assisted workflow acceleration.
New York Genome Center
Scientific System Administrator, Research Computing
Provided scientific systems administration and platform support for research computing environments involving compute, storage, Linux systems, data-intensive workloads, and operational reliability.
Myota
Enterprise Architect
Provided enterprise architecture and technical direction across platform, engineering, infrastructure, security, systems integration, and operational initiatives.
Elisity
VP, Cloud Operations & Engineering
Led cloud operations and engineering for secure, scalable platform services. Drove decisions across cloud systems, reliability, security posture, observability, production operations, and platform maturity.
Palo Alto Networks
Senior Cloud Architect
Focused on cloud architecture, platform design, and delivery in security-intensive environments. Contributed to scalable cloud systems for complex security-focused products and platforms.
Evident.io
Vice President of Operations (Technical)
Scaled systems and technical operations through company growth and acquisition by Palo Alto Networks. Combined hands-on engineering depth with operational leadership under real customer, business, security, and reliability constraints.
Selected Projects
kayveedb
Open-source Go key-value database package with XChaCha20 encryption for in-memory and at-rest protection.
tfvenv
Virtual-environment style workflow for Terraform and Terragrunt, similar in concept to Python venv.
Core Skills
Cybersecurity ArchitectureCloud ArchitectureEnterprise ArchitectureAI Product ArchitectureDevSecOpsPlatform EngineeringAWSLinuxGoTerraformResearch ComputingSecurity Automation
Working Style
I think in systems first, then drill down into the details.
I communicate complex ideas best through whiteboards, diagrams, written specs, graphs, prototypes, architecture maps, and working systems. That is how I make complicated ideas visible and actionable.